Pinterest Gets Ready To IPO

Late last week Pinterest filed initial paperwork with the SEC to begin the IPO process. Pinterest indicated an estimated valuation in the $12B range, which could bounce around before they actually set a price when going public. In 2018 Pinterest reported $700M in ad revenue, and it doesn’t currently have a subscription model. At that monetization rate a $12B value would be 17x rev, which seems a bit overpriced even by tech standards. Again, this is preliminary pricing, so they may end up coming down quite a bit through the process.

Timing could also play a big factor in the success or failure of a Pinterest IPO. Later in 2019 both Uber and Lyft are expected to go public – which could drain over a hundred billion dollars out of the private equity market. With that in mind, Pinterest may try to rush its IPO out ahead of the ridesharing big dogs while there’s still some investment money on the table.